gryphons were inviting visitors to come in. The room was completely empty, except for the lanterns on the wall and the adults' nest. She had expected nests of hay and sticks, however, and was greatly surprised to find that instead they had built 'nests' of piles of featherbeds, with tough wool blankets over them to save the beds from the punishing effects of sharp talons.
'Featherbeds?' she asked, raising one eyebrow. 'My - how luxurious!'
'And why ssshould we make nessstsss of nassty sssticks when we may have sssoft pillowsss?' Treyvan asked genially, lounging at his ease along one side of the 'nest.'
'I have no idea,' she replied with a laugh that made the feather fastened prominently at the side of her head tremble. 'I just wasn't aware that featherbeds were part of a gryphon's natural forests. No one ever told me that there were wild featherbed trees.'
'And what made you think we werrre wild crea-turesss?' Hydona put in, with a sly tilt of the head. 'When have we everrr sssaid thisss?'
'She has you there,' Darkwind pointed out. Firesong simply shook his head.
'Do not come to me for answers,' the Healing Adept said. 'What I do not know about gryphons is far more than what I do know! I cannot help you; for all that I know, they could nest in crystal spires, live upon pastries, and build those flying barges that we saw Kaled'a'in use - out of spiderwebs.'
'We do not build the barrrgesss,' was all that Treyvan would say. 'And you know well that we do not eat passstrriess! But thisss iss not to the point; what isss - we musst find sssomeone who knowsss what has been going on herrre sssince you left, featherrrlesss daughterrrr.' He gave her an opaque look. 'Desspite that all ssseemsss quiet, it isss a quiet I did not trrrussst.'
Somehow it didn't surprise Elspeth to hear Treyvan call her that, as he called Darkwind 'featherless son.' His sharp eyes had gone straight to the feather braided into her hair the moment she and Darkwind had entered the room. Although he had said nothing, she knew he knew hat it meant. She felt warmth and pleasure at the gryphons' approval. She had Starblade and Kethra's approval of this liaison, but in many ways the gryphons were a second set of parents to her lover, and winning their approval as well made her spirits rise with a glow of accomplishment. That glow of accomplishment faded quickly, though. Treyvan was right. This was the calm before the storm, and there was no telling how long the calm would last. Days - weeks - or only candlemarks. Too soon, whenever the storm broke.
'If there is anyone in this Kingdom who knows everything important, it's Herald-Captain Kerowyn,' she said decisively. Of course Kero knew everything; she was in charge of Selenay's personal spies, and she might have a good guess as to when this calm would end.
'Now, we have two choices,' she continued. 'We can bring her here or we can go to find her. The latter choice is not going to be quiet. Treyvan, you and Hydona are the most conspicuous members of this rather conspicuous group; would you rather we brought her to you, or would you rather that as many people saw you as possible?'
'I would rather they stayed put,' came a clear, feminine voice from the door, 'but that's my choice, not theirs. On the other hand, here I am, so you don't have to come looking for me.'
Kerowyn pushed the door completely open and gazed on the lounging gryphons with great interest. 'We can move elsewhere if you want,' she continued, looking into Treyvan's golden gaze, 'but there isn't anywhere much more secure than this room, if you're worried about prying eyes and nosy ears, if I may mix my metaphors.'
It was Treyvan who answered. 'Yesss, warrriorrr. I am trroubled with thosssse who may overrrhearrr. But I alssso wisssh to know why you wisssh usss to rrremain in ourr aerrrie. You do not trrussst usss, perrrhapsss?'
Elspeth didn't know if Kero could read gryphonic body language, but Treyvan was very suspicious. He did not know what Kero's motives were, and he was not taking anything for granted. This set of rooms could easily turn into a prison.
Kero laughed and entered the room, her boots making remarkably little noise on the granite floor. 'Simple enough, good sir. You may have convinced the highborn, Heralds, and Companions that you're relatively harmless, but you haven't gotten to all the servants, and you'll never convince some of the beasts. You go strolling about the grounds without giving me the chance to sweep them first, and you'll panic a dozen gardeners, scare the manure out of most of the horses and donkeys, and cause every pampered lapdog that highborn girls are walking in the garden to keel over dead of fright. You don't really want angry gardeners and weeping girls coming in here yapping at you, do you?'
Treyvan snapped his beak mischievously. No matter how serious a situation was, he could find something amusing in it. 'No,' he replied. 'I think not.' Already he was relaxing; Kera had put him at his ease.
'Excellent.' Kero was not in Whites - as usual. She wore riding leathers of a dusty brown, worn and comfortable, her long blonde hair in a single braid down her back. She turned to give Elspeth a long and considered appraisal, lingering over the new Whites. 'Well, what is this all about?' she continued. 'Trying to set new fashions?'
Elspeth shrugged. 'Whatever. I can promise you I can fight in them. Not that I expect anyone to be able to get close enough to me to have to deal with them hand-to-hand.'
'Oh, really?' Kero turned away - then lunged, with no warning at all, not even by the tensing of a single
